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Static or Dynamic Website? HTML, PHP or ASP? What about CSS

"What language should be used to develop our website" is a common question that I hear from new or established clients. It is common amongst marketing managers that have no background in programming languages and do not understand the differences in programming options. This article is targeted to help you make a decision on whether you should use HTML or a language like PHP or ASP to develop your website.

Websites are classified in three broad categories, the static websites, dynamic websites and dynamic websites that run off of a database (like Shopping Carts).

• Static web pages are created using html with the design and layout done using tables and graphics. A more advanced HTML programmer will use a combination of CSS and graphics to create the "look and feel" of the website.
• Dynamic websites are created using programming languages like PHP, ASP, ASP.net, JSP etc.
• Dynamic websites with databases also use mySQL, Access, SQL server or another database in addition to the programming languages.

Having a static website has its advantages. You do not have to be very technical these days to build a HTML website and beginners can successfully publish a website using HTML and an editor like Dreamweaver or Expression (previously called Frontpage). Server errors are rare in HTML websites. Whenever you want to add new content to your website, you would refer to the template page, add your content and your page is ready to be uploaded. If you needed to change a navigation element or other common element in your website, you would unfortunately have to change that element on every page.

Static websites typically work okay if your online presence is small. As mentioned above, maintaining the static pages for any small change like the style or navigation, which remains common across pages, becomes very difficult and time consuming. You would have to open each page, make the change and then upload the pages again to your web server. You are very limited in your ability to maintain the SEO (search engine optimization) aspects of your website also. The Meta tags are on each page and need to be manually changed.

Creating a dynamic website is more challenging but the result and maintainability you will achieve is well worth the effort.

Programming languages like PHP help you in creating dynamic web pages which enables you to maintain your web site content dynamically or at runtime. Developing a dynamic website opens up possibilities that are not available in static websites.

Some examples:

• Displaying web site content based on users demographics
• Tracking where the user came from using multiple techniques
• Displaying current time and date
• Allowing the Title tags and other SEO components to be managed in an external database or spreadsheet and ensuring that these tags are consistently displayed in the page content (more on this in my next article)
• Easily creating printer-friendly pages
• Allowing non-technical people within your organization to update your website
• Developing simple applications like Brochure pages that are dynamically created.

Once you decide that a dynamic web site is the right way to go, the next question is usually " what programming language should I use". The most common programming languages are ASP, PHP, CGI Perl, JSP and recently growing in popularity ASP.net. Each language has advantages and minor disadvantages.

PHP has a considerable learning curve, but it gives you access to a variety of open source applications that are free. PHP is supported on both Windows as well as Linux servers. Choosing a Linux environment with Apache server is the best option for PHP, but not the only option. Blog software is freely available, also.

ASP web sites have a much smaller learning curve - but they are restricted to IIS and the windows environment. Bill Gates doesn't give away anything free - so in his footsteps, most of the applications that are available for Microsoft technologies like ASP are paid applications. You would have to purchase licenses. For example it would be difficult to find blog software for ASP or an ASP.net website.

JSP has a huge learning curve - but provides all the features of Java. Java can provide you excellent features when it comes to server side programming. Java is much more expensive than PHP, also.

Database Options

PHP would normally be used with a MySQL database. ASP and ASP.net work well with databases like MS SQL Server or MS Access. ASP, ASP.net, MS SQL Server, MS access are all Microsoft technologies.A server host will usually charge a bit less for Linux hosting, than a comparable Windows hosting package.

The cost to develop a dynamic website is usually triple the cost of a static website.
Hopefully this answers all your questions.

Please use the comments if you have any further questions and I will answer promptly!!

Labels: Dynamic Websites, Michigan Web Design, PHP and MySql Programming Advantages